Improvement in the manufacture of felted fabrics



BWMTE; MANUFACTURE OE FELTED FABRICS.

No. 46,837. Patnted Mar. 14, 1865.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ENOOH WAITE, OF SOUTH NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FELTED FABRICS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 46,837, dated March 14,1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, ENOCH WAITE, of South Natick, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have. invented an Improvement in the Manufacture of Felted Fabrics Having Elastic or Water-Proof Backing and I do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawing, which denotes a section of a piece of the fabric made'in accordance with my invention.

The improved fabric may be said to be composed ot' two sheets of felt of equal or ditt'erent thicknesses, laid one on the other, and connected with one another by a water-proof composition or cement, and also with a backing made ot'indiarubber,in whole or in part, or a water-proof composition, or cloth, leather, or its equivalent.

In the drawing', a and b represent the two sheets of felt, the first or upper being` thicker than the second. Their connection by a waterproof film or sheet of cement is shown at c o, the backing or sheet of india-rubber or other suitable material being exhibited at d, as applied and connected to the lower face of the sheet b.

The fabric may be made by a felting-ma cline calculated to make two separate sheets of felt, and cement them together and to the backing, or it may be made by manual labor.

It has been found in the use of a single sheet of felt, provided with a water-proof backing,

that an injury or puncture of the latter would cause inconvenience or had consequences-as, for instance, when the sheet of felt was employed as anpinside sole for a shoe or as a means of applying a fomentation or hot liquid -to the surface of the body of a person, and

there should be a hole in the backing; such hole would be a means of conveying moisture or a liquid through the backing, and either into the fell. or from the same to the clothes of the person. To prevent such yresults I make the 4fabric of two sheets of felt with a backing on one of them, and a sheet or film of water-proof cement between the two. This interposed film is to arrest the owage of liquid transversely through the two sheets of felt in case the backing may be injured. The thinner sheet of felt serves to prevent the backing, while being bent, from injuring the water-proof lm between the two sheets of felt, and besides is advantageous in other respects.

I do not claim a fabric composed of a single. layer or mass of felt and a water-proof` backing applied thereto.

What I claim as my invention is- The improved felt fabric made -of a backing and two sheets of felt, cemented together and arranged substantially as specified.

ENOCH VVAITE.l Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. P.' HALE, Jr. 

